Harry A. Bernhardt, 76, a longtime communications manager for the Chicago Tribune, died Thursday in Loyola Medical Center in Maywood.
Mr. Bernhardt, a longtime Oak Park resident, was a graduate of Northwestern University.
He worked for the Chicago Tribune for more than 40 years, starting as an assistant switchboard manager overseeing switchboard operators in the days when all calls to the newspaper arrived on one number and had to be routed to different extensions.
He eventually became head of the telephone switchboard and held that job for many years before retiring in 1980.
”He was a very thoughtful guy and was extremely helpful,” remembered Lindsey Van Vlissingen, a former assistant to the editor who worked with him. Mr. Bernhardt, a lifelong bachelor, also served as a licensed eucharistic minister at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park.
He is survived by his sister, Mary Jane Fields.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday in Drechler-Brown Funeral Home, 203 Marion St., Oak Park. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake St., Oak Park.
